philo-

views updated

philo-, before a vowel or h phil-, repr., often through F. or L., Gr. phil(o)-, comb. form of phílos meaning ‘lover’, ‘loving’, as in philósophos PHILOSOPHER; in many comps. (often nonce-words) from XVII, among which in later use are numerous specimens of the type of Gr. philéllēn loving or favourable to the Greeks, philhellene (XIX).

More From encyclopedia.com